Traditionally, many convenience stores have sold beverages using a self-service arrangement in which the consumer uses an automated machine to dispense a desired beverage. The consumer can pay for his purchase by taking the container filled with his desired beverage to the register. Typical beverages dispensed in connection with these types of self-service arrangements can include coffee, specialty cappuccino or espresso drinks, cold drinks, and the like, for example.
When a consumer wants to purchase a beverage that is dispensed using a self-service arrangement, the consumer must first decide on the type and quantity of beverage to purchase. Then, the consumer must locate the appropriate cup or container, which may depend on the type and quantity of beverage selected. The consumer must appropriately position the cup or container relative to the dispensing machine and push a button or otherwise instruct the machine to dispense the selected beverage.
Once a consumer has appropriately filled a cup or otherwise caused the cup to be filled with the desired amount of the selected beverage, he must take the beverage to the cashier or vending location and then, depending on the type of cup used and the beverage held therein, verbally identify the type of beverage in the container to a store clerk. In many stores, the store clerk must manually enter the price of the consumer's purchase into the cash register machine to determine the total amount of money owed, including any other purchases and applicable taxes or fees, to allow the consumer to complete the purchase.
While self-service beverage dispensing arrangements offer some obvious advantages to both the consumer and the store, there are also disadvantages associated with such arrangements. For example, known self-service arrangements do not provide a system or method to charge a consumer different prices for different beverages unless the consumer voluntarily discloses his selected beverage. For example, cups for soda are generally different than cups for coffee, which are often different from cups for frozen drinks. However, a user can, either by mistake or on purpose, select the wrong cup for a particular beverage. Depending on the opacity of a cup and often its lid, it is often not possible to determine what beverage is in the cup. This permits a dishonest consumer to choose a more expensive beverage and report that he has a less expensive beverage to the cashier. Many stores and depots attempt to solve this problem by selling beverages based on only the amount of beverage purchased. That is, the size and type of the cup used in connection with a self-service dispensing machine determines the price. However, it may be advantageous for a store to sell certain premium beverages at a higher price point.
Furthermore, often there is little, if any, employee supervision over the self-service beverage dispensing process. Stores or depots that provide self-service beverage dispensing arrangements and machines are traditionally designed as low-cost profit centers. That is, often only one or two employees are working in the store at any given time, and the employees are often too busy totaling prices and accepting payment at the register to supervise a self-service beverage dispensing machine.
The lack of employee supervision can lead to opportunities in which a consumer obtains a higher priced beverage from a machine, but only pays for a lower priced beverage. The cups or containers used in connection with self-service beverage dispensing machines are often visually indistinguishable from one another regardless of what beverage is dispensed therein. Because different beverages can have various price points, often consumers will fill a cup with a high-cost beverage even though the cup is intended for a low-cost beverage. At the register, the consumer can then misinform the store clerk as to the cup's contents so that he or she incorrectly pays for the low-cost beverage. Such deception is deleterious to both the vendor and consumer as the losses sustained by the store must often be made up with higher prices that all must pay.
Another disadvantage associated with self-service beverage dispensing arrangements is the likelihood of a store clerk charging a consumer the wrong price. After a consumer verbally identifies the beverage dispensed into a container to a store clerk, the clerk must often manually enter the correct price into the register. There is a substantial likelihood that a clerk may enter the price erroneously, either inadvertently or intentionally.
Still further disadvantages include consumers drinking all or a portion of their beverage while they are still in the store and then improperly refilling their container before visiting the register to pay. When this happens, the consumers are essentially getting some or their entire beverage at the expense of the store owner. In response, a store owner may then raise the cost of beverages for all purchasers.
Finally, self-service beverage dispensing arrangements make it difficult to track inventory of particular beverages or to track consumer or seasonal trends that may be tied to particular beverages. However, it would be advantageous to a store to accurately track inventory and trends so that the store can be better prepared to meet the needs of its customers while not wasting unnecessary financial resources.
It is known in the art to identify and track particular beverages or containers by fastening certain indicia to or printing indicia on a cup or container. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,153 to Gerling et al. titled “Measuring and Dispensing System for Solid Dry Flowable Materials” discloses a sensor that reads a sensor chip on the container when the sensor chip is appropriately aligned with the sensor. Similarly, U.S. Publication No. 2005/0029287 to Mobbs titled “Beverage Dispensing System” discloses a machine sensor that recognizes a barcode marked on a container when the container is situated such that the barcode is in view of the sensor. In Gerling et al., Mobbs, and other disclosures of such systems, the container must be placed in a specified position and aligned in a specific way with a scanning and dispensing machine so that the machine can recognize the marking, chip, or barcode associated with the container.
It has been found that consumers have had difficulty with these types of identification or tracking devices because it is often difficult to precisely place the container in position relative to the scanning and dispensing machine. Often, even when a consumer manages to accurately place the container in such a device, the container can be bumped or subsequently moved by the consumer, the force of the beverage being dispensed into the container, or another force that alters the alignment of the container with the machine. In these systems, when the container is not precisely aligned, the scanning and dispensing machine will often not recognize the container and will not dispense the desired beverage. This can cause great frustration to both consumers and store personnel attempting to assist consumers.
Accordingly, systems and methods have been developed in an attempt to address the frustrations consumers face when trying to precisely align a container with a scanning and dispensing machine. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,083,093 to Brown titled “Method and Apparatus for Vending a Containerized Liquid Product Utilizing an Automatic Self-Service Refill System” discloses a machine that includes a turntable on which a container with marking indicia is placed. When a container is placed on the turntable, the turntable can rotate until a scanner associated with the machine reads the marking indicia on the container. That is, the turntable can rotate until the container is properly aligned with respect to the machine and its scanner.
The machine disclosed in Brown also presents several disadvantages. First, such a machine can be more expensive to manufacture and therefore to purchase. Typically a complex machine is more expensive to maintain relative to traditional self-service beverage dispensing machines because, among other reasons, the movable parts of the turntable and supporting machinery are more expensive to manufacture and are more prone to breakdown and the concomitant replacement and repair expenses. Second, a container placed on the turntable is more likely to spill or become misaligned with the beverage dispenser when the turntable is in motion. Clearly, it is preferable that a self-service dispensing machine be inexpensive to manufacture and maintain and not predisposed to spill beverages.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,732 to Nelson titled “Beverage Dispenser With a Reader for Size Indicia on a Serving Container” discloses a bar code reader that reads a bar code printed on a container. Multiple bar codes can be printed on the container at several locations to make it easier to properly align the container with the machine and an associated bar code reader. However, a consumer must still work to ensure proper alignment and, as explained above, this can at times be a difficult and sometimes frustrating task. Additionally, the aesthetic design of a container with multiple bar codes printed thereon may not be desirable or preferable. There is thus a continuing, ongoing need for an improved beverage identification system and method.